APTA Comprehensive Summary on HH PPS Now Available

A comprehensive summary of proposed changes to Medicare's Home Health Prospective Payment System (HH PPS) for Calendar Year (CY) 2012 provides details on the proposed 5.06% reduction to the national standardized 60-day episode rates for nominal case-mix change for CY 2012, which would be offset by a 1.5% market basket update, resulting in an approximate 3.35% reduction. The summary also discusses quality reporting and face-to-face encounter requirements, as well as a mandated study on home health agency costs of providing access to care for low-income Medicare beneficiaries or those residing in medically underserved areas, and in treating beneficiaries with varying levels of severity of illness. Also outlined are the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' plans to revise the Home Health Resource Group to accommodate the ICD-10 codes and to clarify the "confined to home" definition to more closely align with the Medicare statute.